Hebrews 11:38 BSB — MannaFest

Hebrews 11:38

The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth.

KJV

(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

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Commentary

2 voices

Basil of Caesarea

LETTER 42 (379)

Here is the narrow and close way that leads to life. Here are the teachers and prophets, "wandering in deserts, mountains, caves and holes in the earth." Here are the apostles and evangelists … living as citizens of the desert.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

Jerome

ON LAZARUS AND DIVES 86 (420)

Moses and the prophets went about in goatskins, wandering in their caves and in holes in the ground. They were poor men just like Lazarus, and they suffered calamities and endured hunger.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Of whom the world was not worthy - Yet they were obliged to wander by day in deserts and mountains, driven from the society of men, and often obliged to hide by night in dens and caves of the earth, to conceal themselves from the brutal rage of men. Perhaps he refers here principally to the case of Elijah, and the hundred prophets hidden in caves by Obadiah, and fed with bread and water. See 1Ki 18:4. David was often obliged thus to hide himself from Saul; 1Sa 24:3, etc.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Of whom the world was not worthy--So far from their being unworthy of living in the world, as their exile in deserts, &c., might seem to imply, "the world was not worthy of them." The world, in shutting them out, shut out from itself a source of blessing; such as Joseph proved to Potiphar (Ge 39:5), and Jacob to Laban (Ge 30:27).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

18 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ὧν	hōn	of whom	G3739 →
οὐκ	ouk	not	G3756 →
ἦν	ēn	was	G1510 →
ἄξιος	axios	worthy	G514 →
ὁ	ho	the	G3588 →
κόσμος·	kosmos	world;	G2889 →
ἐπὶ	epi	in	G1909 →
ἐρημίαις	erēmiais	deserts	G2047 →
πλανώμενοι	planōmenoi	wandering	G4105 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
ὄρεσιν	oresin	in mountains	G3735 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
σπηλαίοις	spēlaiois	in caves	G4693 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
ταῖς	tais	in the	G3588 →
ὀπαῖς	opais	holes	G3692 →
τῆς	tēs	of the	G3588 →
γῆς.¶	gēs	earth.	G1093 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Isaiah 57:1
The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
leads to
- 2 Kings 22:20
  ‘Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place.’”…
- 2 Chronicles 34:28
  ‘Now I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place…
- Psalms 12:1
  Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
- Micah 7:2
  The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
- Isaiah 42:25
  So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to…
Through
1 Kings 19:9
There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
leads to
- Genesis 3:9
  But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
Through
1 Kings 18:4
for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
leads to
- 1 Kings 18:13
  Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them…
Through
1 Samuel 22:1
So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.
leads to
- Psalms 57:1–11
  Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.